"NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS"
IN FLOWER
You can see the "Night-blooming
Cereus" I'm talking about, growing next to a sidewalk in downtown Jalpan, below:
"Night-blooming Cereus" is in quotation marks because several cacti go by
that name. Ours is HYLOCEREUS UNDATUS. It's native from Mexico to northern South America,
but is naturalized in tropical and subtropical zones worldwide. One reason for the plant's
popularity is its foot-long, fragrant, beautiful blossoms -- among the largest in the
Cactus Family -- but also it's grown for its edible fruits. You even see the species
growing wild in southern Florida, though it's unclear whether those plants are persisting
vegetatively, or actually reproducing by seeds.
The large, red, fruits, known as strawberry pears or dragon fruits in English, and
pitayas in Spanish, are an important crop in some places. In the Yucatan fruits are
produced on trellised plants grown in large plantations. You can see a fruit at http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/dragon_fruit.htm.
If you have a "Night-blooming Cereus" that doesn't look like the Hylocereus
undatus in my picture, you might compare your plant with the following species, all with
huge, white blossoms, and all known as "Night-blooming Cereuses":
Epiphyllum oxypetalum: http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/20630/
Peniocereus greggii: http://www.desertmuseum.org/programs/images/Pengre03.jpg
Selenicereus grandiflorus: http://www.kakteen-piltz.de/pages/010_jpg.htm |
